Fall 2018 Sweat Thread

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:21 pm

Same here, sigh. Thursday is gonna be a make or break day. UCLA, Michigan and Berkeley are probably going to release the bulk of their results that day. Fingers crossed.

EGA · Post by **EGA** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:28 pm

ximonk wrote:Same here, sigh. Thursday is gonna be a make or break day. UCLA, Michigan and Berkeley are probably going to release the bulk of their results that day. Fingers crossed.

What makes you think Thursday is when all these schools will release acceptances? It seems UCLA and Michigan have already sent out their first round (which likely constitutes the bulk of their results).

rfz · Post by **rfz** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:32 pm

I've got rejection from Princeton

jxwatmg · Post by **jxwatmg** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:44 pm

rejected by Princeton too, not surprising though

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:58 pm

Historically that's when those schools sent out acceptances based on Gradcafe.

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:01 pm

Also are you sure Ann Arbor finished sending out first round offers? Gradcafe seems a little bit lacking on Michigan offers.

keith · Post by **keith** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:03 pm

Do you guys know whether Northwestern has sent out all their offers? Who should I contact if I want to inquire about my status?

mathematics · Post by **mathematics** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:14 pm

Dartmouth is out

FreddieBiddleBooty · Post by **FreddieBiddleBooty** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:25 pm

mathematics wrote:Dartmouth is out

Did you get an acceptance?

Junaid456 · Post by **Junaid456** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:26 pm

mathematics wrote:Dartmouth is out

How did you get the notification? Nothing here yet.

djysyed · Post by **djysyed** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:35 pm

keith wrote:Do you guys know whether Northwestern has sent out all their offers? Who should I contact if I want to inquire about my status?

John Francis

keith · Post by **keith** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:41 pm

djysyed wrote:
keith wrote:Do you guys know whether Northwestern has sent out all their offers? Who should I contact if I want to inquire about my status?
John Francis

Thank you! Is he the director of graduate studies? Have you talked with him?

djysyed · Post by **djysyed** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:50 pm

He is the head of graduate recruitment. I never talked to him but their DGS told me to. One of his PhD students happened to stop by at my university's Algebraic K-Theory seminars.

lambert · Post by **lambert** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:28 pm

Don't fret over a rejection from Princeton people. It's probably the most selective program you could have applied to, you could have one of the strongest applications in the world and still get rejected. Means nothing, focus on the rest of your pending results and good luck.

Btw if anybody has done a skype call with Penn I would like to know what happened there

Singularity · Post by **Singularity** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:34 pm

lambert wrote:Don't fret over a rejection from Princeton people. It's probably the most selective program you could have applied to, you could have one of the strongest applications in the world and still get rejected. Means nothing, focus on the rest of your pending results and good luck.

Btw if anybody has done a skype call with Penn I would like to know what happened there

They invited me to visit. I think it is informal and I get to tell then whichever profs I would like to talk to. So I think it is not a test. The prof who called me for the invitation told me they would like to offer admission to basically everyone invited but she can't guarantee that officially.

roboticbass · Post by **roboticbass** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:05 am

FreddieBiddleBooty wrote:
mathematics wrote:Dartmouth is out
Did you get an acceptance?

I don't see anything on gradcafe from Dartmouth, I don't expect to get in but it still seems early for them

FreddieBiddleBooty · Post by **FreddieBiddleBooty** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:08 am

roboticbass wrote:
FreddieBiddleBooty wrote:
mathematics wrote:Dartmouth is out
Did you get an acceptance?
I don't see anything on gradcafe from Dartmouth, I don't expect to get in but it still seems early for them

Yeah haven't seen anything all day. And yes, I agree. I feel I won't get in because of prestige but it does seem early for them.

EGA · Post by **EGA** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:36 am

ximonk wrote:Also are you sure Ann Arbor finished sending out first round offers? Gradcafe seems a little bit lacking on Michigan offers.

That's true, there are less than you'd expect. But I'm not sure why they would send out a few offers earlier than most others. I'm sure there will be more offers, but since I haven't heard back from them yet, I'm skeptical of a positive outcome.

password · Post by **password** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:21 am

Two questions..

1. Is Ohio State done with acceptances (i.e. are they now waiting for people to start declining offers so they can start accepting people off a secret wait list)?

2. Does anyone know how schools decide who to interview? Do they interview everyone they are interested in, only borderline people that they are trying to get a better feel for, or some other system? (I suppose this varies by school. I'm really wondering whether I can infer anything if I have not gotten an interview request but others have)

petrokov · Post by **petrokov** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:15 am

Got that rejection from Princeton today.

Also, I'm wondering if anyone has advice about choosing between schools. I applied to many many schools, and I've received two funded offers so far (ASU and South Carolina). I'm still waiting on most of my applications, and neither of these schools is among my favorites, but I want to reject one of the offers ASAP so that they can give the money to someone else. The problem is that I wasn't sure if I would get in anywhere, so I just applied everywhere my advisor recommended, and I put off actually comparing schools until I heard back from them.

Is there anything specific that I can look at when comparing schools? Should my main criterion be the research subjects of the faculty, and how interested I am in the research at each university? Is a greater number of faculty in my interest area something to consider? Should I look for a high number of classes taught in my interest area? Should I inquire about the number of students doing research in my area of interest? Not having done a PhD program before, I don't know how each of these factors would affect my experience. What I really want from a graduate school is a place where I can come up with and pursue new ideas in graph theory, and a group of skilled peers who will work at a very high level and encourage me to do the same. I think math is a social activity, and I would love to be part of a community of skilled and motivated mathematicians. My parents have mentioned from their experience that sometimes grad schools are full of students who wish to complete a degree and then leave just in order to make more money teaching, and I don't think that I would enjoy being around such students nearly as much as being with students whose goal is to produce stellar research.

I saw that many people applied to a large number of schools like I did, so I'm sure I'm not the only one facing this dilemma. If anyone has any advice, I would be glad to hear it. Thanks.

MMDE · Post by **MMDE** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:59 am

Anyone hear back from NYU? They're my dream school and I'll be applying this Fall, but seeing the competition I'm weighing if it's even a realistic option. Heard something once about them having an acceptance rate <2.5%. Crazy if that's true!

lothiriell · Post by **lothiriell** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:05 am

MMDE wrote:Anyone hear back from NYU? They're my dream school and I'll be applying this Fall, but seeing the competition I'm weighing if it's even a realistic option. Heard something once about them having an acceptance rate <2.5%. Crazy if that's true!

Most of the top schools have crazy acceptance rates, but that's not something that should discourage you, imo. These numbers are a bit inflated though, because a lot of people apply there because "why not, maybe I'll get lucky" (even though they know they clearly aren't qualified).

Try working on your application as much as you can and show that you are a good applicant first and foremost. Study hard for the GRE subject test (if you're going to a Pure Math program). If you have the option, take the exam once early just to get a feeling of it and then retake it after. A lot of people feel overwhelmed by it even though they are confident beforehand. Apply to more places just so you have "safety options" and don't worry about the acceptance rates

zzhang222 · Post by **zzhang222** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:30 am

Duke has sent out all the offers and there will not be a next round according to a professor there

MMDE · Post by **MMDE** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:31 pm

lothiriell wrote:
MMDE wrote:Anyone hear back from NYU? They're my dream school and I'll be applying this Fall, but seeing the competition I'm weighing if it's even a realistic option. Heard something once about them having an acceptance rate <2.5%. Crazy if that's true!
Most of the top schools have crazy acceptance rates, but that's not something that should discourage you, imo. These numbers are a bit inflated though, because a lot of people apply there because "why not, maybe I'll get lucky" (even though they know they clearly aren't qualified).

Try working on your application as much as you can and show that you are a good applicant first and foremost. Study hard for the GRE subject test (if you're going to a Pure Math program). If you have the option, take the exam once early just to get a feeling of it and then retake it after. A lot of people feel overwhelmed by it even though they are confident beforehand. Apply to more places just so you have "safety options" and don't worry about the acceptance rates

Thanks I'm planning on taking the general GRE in the coming 2-3 weeks, then focusing on the mGRE in April just to get a feel for it and then really focus on the September exam. I'm going for Applied Math but more on the theoretical side, my application is competitive but compared to some of the applicants here my application isn't anything special by ANY means.

djysyed · Post by **djysyed** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:20 pm

Johns Hopkins seems to have sent out acceptances. I wonder if they send out most acceptances in the first round.

kayiilu · Post by **kayiilu** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:31 pm

zzhang222 wrote:Duke has sent out all the offers and there will not be a next round according to a professor there

Is that for both pure math and applied math or for pure math?

pamkoo · Post by **pamkoo** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:38 pm

Did anyone get Cornell pure math? I only know people got in applied math there.

chrono · Post by **chrono** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:50 pm

Does anyone know if there is an application fee for Cornell? I dont remember paying for it. kinda nervous

lothiriell · Post by **lothiriell** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:00 pm

chrono wrote:Does anyone know if there is an application fee for Cornell? I dont remember paying for it. kinda nervous

Login to ApplyWeb, click on 'View details' and under Status it should say whether it's paid.

Mandelbrot · Post by **Mandelbrot** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:17 pm

New to all this...

Do we think Michigan is totally gone?

chrono · Post by **chrono** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:26 pm

lothiriell wrote:
chrono wrote:Does anyone know if there is an application fee for Cornell? I dont remember paying for it. kinda nervous
Login to ApplyWeb, click on 'View details' and under Status it should say whether it's paid.

For all the other schools, theres a "payment accepted" message, but it didnt say anything about payment for cornell. Somehow my application status is marked as complete. does that mean they dont have an application fee?

lothiriell · Post by **lothiriell** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:44 pm

chrono wrote:For all the other schools, theres a "payment accepted" message, but it didnt say anything about payment for cornell. Somehow my application status is marked as complete. does that mean they dont have an application fee?

For me, when I open for Cornell, and click on View details it says it's been paid and the amount paid ($105 but maybe it's different for domestic students) is 2 rows below. Don't you get a 'View details' option for every school separately? :/

chrono · Post by **chrono** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 5:52 pm

lothiriell wrote:
chrono wrote:For all the other schools, theres a "payment accepted" message, but it didnt say anything about payment for cornell. Somehow my application status is marked as complete. does that mean they dont have an application fee?
For me, when I open for Cornell, and click on View details it says it's been paid and the amount paid ($105 but maybe it's different for domestic students) is 2 rows below. Don't you get a 'View details' option for every school separately? :/

I guess I'll contact them tomorrow:( thank you tho!

cbooms1 · Post by **cbooms1** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:58 pm

chrono wrote:
lothiriell wrote:
chrono wrote:For all the other schools, theres a "payment accepted" message, but it didnt say anything about payment for cornell. Somehow my application status is marked as complete. does that mean they dont have an application fee?
For me, when I open for Cornell, and click on View details it says it's been paid and the amount paid ($105 but maybe it's different for domestic students) is 2 rows below. Don't you get a 'View details' option for every school separately? :/
I guess I'll contact them tomorrow:( thank you tho!

For Cornell's application, it listed a bunch of possible programs on page 5 for you to check if you participated in them. If you checked any of these boxes, then your application fee was waived.

mishania1996 · Post by **mishania1996** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:00 pm

chrono wrote:
lothiriell wrote:
chrono wrote:Does anyone know if there is an application fee for Cornell? I dont remember paying for it. kinda nervous
Login to ApplyWeb, click on 'View details' and under Status it should say whether it's paid.
For all the other schools, theres a "payment accepted" message, but it didnt say anything about payment for cornell. Somehow my application status is marked as complete. does that mean they dont have an application fee?

I had a very similar situation with Indiana Bloomington. I was confused because the application was complete, but I hadn't paid anything. See http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4299. I mailed them(Graduate School) and they gave me a link to pay.

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:59 pm

Got my first rejection via email.

Is it recommended to reply to the email and ask why they made the decision they made?

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:07 pm

Its typically not recommended. Of course you can, but not sure how helpful the information will be unless your reapplying in the future. It will be pretty generic if your not one of their top candidates, and if you were qualified for the program the difference between being admitted and not being admitted will probably come down to some arbitrary decision.

Mandelbrot · Post by **Mandelbrot** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:11 pm

ximonk wrote:... if you were qualified for the program the difference between being admitted and not being admitted will probably come down to some arbitrary decision.

This is what’s getting to me at the moment. I keep seeing offers for my top two choices to people less qualified than me. If they reject me I want to know why.

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:16 pm

Same here, but what can you do. Just wait and see I guess. Also if it helps I have taken 20+ graduate courses and I still haven't heard anything from the programs I applied to, so I guess there's either a lot of qualified applicants or there taking a chance and aiming for a more "diverse" program. Or the admits had some kickass letters of recommendation who knows.

Mandelbrot · Post by **Mandelbrot** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:30 pm

Do you think if I got one amazing reference and two average references it would actually not look very good?
Anyway, all these annoying speculative questions could be answered by one of these faculty... do you really think they won’t give a meaningful response?

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:31 pm

ximonk wrote:Its typically not recommended. Of course you can, but not sure how helpful the information will be unless your reapplying in the future. It will be pretty generic if your not one of their top candidates, and if you were qualified for the program the difference between being admitted and not being admitted will probably come down to some arbitrary decision.

At this point, "some arbitrary decision" feels somehow worse than an immediate rejection because I felt I was qualified for the program. Two of my letter writers said they haven't written a stronger letter for any other student (super small school, but still) so I really thought I had that one.

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:49 pm

djysyed wrote:For anyone worrying about what top schools look for in an applicant profile, I emailed the DGS of Yale and asked what was lacking in my application. He replied with, "We receive too many applications to give detailed feedback to everyone who is not accepted. In comparison with a typical accepted applicant, you have fewer years of undergraduate education, lower grades, lower GRE scores, and less research experience."

This is the typical response you will get. This is what another poster did when they contacted Yale. You'll probably get the same introduction with maybe a sprinkling of some small details, nothing too probing.

FreddieBiddleBooty · Post by **FreddieBiddleBooty** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:51 pm

Peregrine wrote:
ximonk wrote:Its typically not recommended. Of course you can, but not sure how helpful the information will be unless your reapplying in the future. It will be pretty generic if your not one of their top candidates, and if you were qualified for the program the difference between being admitted and not being admitted will probably come down to some arbitrary decision.
At this point, "some arbitrary decision" feels somehow worse than an immediate rejection because I felt I was qualified for the program. Two of my letter writers said they haven't written a stronger letter for any other student (super small school, but still) so I really thought I had that one.

I got rejected there too

feels bad cause I was really banking on that one. Kinda surprised actually.

EGA · Post by **EGA** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:51 pm

Mandelbrot wrote:
ximonk wrote:... if you were qualified for the program the difference between being admitted and not being admitted will probably come down to some arbitrary decision.
This is what’s getting to me at the moment. I keep seeing offers for my top two choices to people less qualified than me. If they reject me I want to know why.

On what basis have you deduced that those offered acceptance to these schools are 'less qualified' than you? The applicant profiles here are extremely superficial, and obviously cannot be used to make direct comparisons between yourself and others.

For example, nearly everyone here has completed a fair bit of research. But there's no information offered as to the quality of the research that was performed. Nor the quality of recommendation letters - and these are likely deciding factors in the admissions process. Whereas the aspects of a profile that you actually can compare from this forum (e.g. gpa, test scores, etc...) are either good enough or not. Once you're past a certain threshold, nobody cares.

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:00 pm

@EGA I'm guessing he is just speculating based on scores alone on here and grad cafe. And he possibly has some friends that already got in as a point of comparison. Anyways a lot of us are just a bit anxious for results and a bit salty at the moment, so don't take our comments too seriously. Also congratulations on getting into Northwestern. Its a great school.

Mandelbrot · Post by **Mandelbrot** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:02 pm

EGA wrote:
On what basis have you deduced that those offered acceptance to these schools are 'less qualified' than you? The applicant profiles here are extremely superficial, and obviously cannot be used to make direct comparisons between yourself and others.

For example, nearly everyone here has completed a fair bit of research. But there's no information offered as to the quality of the research that was performed. Nor the quality of recommendation letters - and these are likely deciding factors in the admissions process. Whereas the aspects of a profile that you actually can compare from this forum (e.g. gpa, test scores, etc...) are either good enough or not. Once you're past a certain threshold, nobody cares.

Well this is kinda the point I was trying to make. I’m obviously not the most qualified overall. But reasons I haven’t been accepted are surely beyond these superficial ones. I’d like to know what. Are my recommendations not exciting enough, did I need to do two research projects not one, did I need to have published already?
Because I cant imagine what else it was and I want to know which after spending so much time and money on this.

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:05 pm

@Mandelbrodt Michigan probably isn't done yet. They have a waitlist that's ongoing. Also not sure if they are done with all admits yet. Tommorow we might see some more activity before they start looking at the waitlist and work on second round offers(say Mid February).

ximonk · Post by **ximonk** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:07 pm

@Mandelbrodt Being an international student puts you somewhat at a disadvantage for public schools. They probably have a quota due to federal grants and what not. For private schools they don't have this restriction and there a lot of highly qualified applicants so they can cherry pick their candidates however they want.

phucnguyen · Post by **phucnguyen** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:12 pm

Has anyone heard anything from GATech? Looking on gradcafe, seems like they have sent a batch of offers. Mine still says "To Dept for Review," not sure if indicates something bad at this point.

djysyed · Post by **djysyed** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:44 pm

ximonk wrote:Same here, but what can you do. Just wait and see I guess. Also if it helps I have taken 20+ graduate courses and I still haven't heard anything from the programs I applied to, so I guess there's either a lot of qualified applicants or there taking a chance and aiming for a more "diverse" program. Or the admits had some kickass letters of recommendation who knows.

I'm sure the courses you have done are all at the graduate level but there are instances where people think they took a "graduate" course just because it is listed as a masters level course. Quite a few of the undergrads at my university tell everyone that they've taken 4-5 graduate courses. These courses are usually: ODEs, Topology, Abstract Algebra 2, Real Analysis 2, Complex Analysis etc. In order to take 20 graduate courses, I'm guessing you've done some reading courses in thesis level topics?

EGA wrote: On what basis have you deduced that those offered acceptance to these schools are 'less qualified' than you? The applicant profiles here are extremely superficial, and obviously cannot be used to make direct comparisons between yourself and others.

Exactly. In fact, I heard some professors call up other professors from different schools and ask about their candidate. Since I wasn't rejected from Northwestern right off the bat, I'm guessing their Algebraic Topologists are interested in seeing my performance in my Algebraic Topology course (both programs know one another well).